At their last subscription concert, the South Czech Philharmonic gave world premiere to Flames of Memories, an orchestral piece by composer and concert guitarist František Lukáš (*1977). The evening took place on 23rd March at the Theatre hall of the Metropol congress centre. The other pieces on the program included the famous Piano Concerto No. … Read more…
On Saturday 4 March, Staatstheater Darmstadt premiered a new production of Janáček’s Jenůfa. Its author Dirk Schmeding belongs to experienced Janáček-directors; he directed Jenufa already three years ago at Landestheater Detmold and his first work in Darmstadt was The Cunning Little Vixen. His co-workers from the latter production included other members of the present creative team – stage … Read more…
One of the four operas presented this season at Opera Santa Barbara, California, is Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen. The new production by Crystal Manich, which is dedicated to both adult and children spectators (which is also one of the reasons why it is sung in an English), received two performances – on 3rd and 5th March at … Read more…
One of the ensembles performing at the 45th year of the prestigious international Hong Kong Arts festival (Feb 16 – Mar 18) was the ensemble of the National Theatre Brno. HK Cultural Centre’s Concert Hall, which can host nearly 1,600 visitors, saw them perform four times altogether – twice it was Janáček’s opera The Makropulos Case, then his Sinfonietta, Eternal … Read more…
On 25th February, Seattle Opera in Washington, USA, premiered a new production of Leoš Janáček’s Katya Kabanova. The Australian director Patrick Nolan, debutant at this opera house, did not set the story into the tsarist Russia, but into a small American town in the 50s. The heroine is thus presented as a modern woman rebelling against the patriarchal environment … Read more…
On 25th February, Seattle Opera in Washington, USA, premiered a new production of Leoš Janáček’s Katya Kabanova. The Australian director Patrick Nolan, debutant at this opera house, did not set the story into the tsarist Russia, but into a small American town in the 50s. The heroine is thus presented as a modern woman rebelling against the patriarchal environment … Read more…
Within their New Horizons cycle, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra staged a concert called “The Classic in the Hands of Jazzmen”. It was held on 13th February in the Municipal House’s Smetana Hall and, next to the PRSO, it hosted another renowned radio ensemble – Czech Radio Big Band Gustav Brom. The program consisted of both classical and jazzy … Read more…
Held on 6th February in Reduta, this year’s first orchestral concert by the Brno-based Ensemble Opera Diversa not only celebrated Miloš Štědroň’s 75th birthday but also served as a unique display of music by contemporary Czech and Moravian composers. Led by Gabriela Tardonová, the ensemble performed 6 pieces for strings, none of which was written more than twenty … Read more…
The third of the six evenings of the Beauty of Today, which is aoncert cycle organized by PKF – Prague Philharmonia, was dedicated to the composer, conductor, flautist and music organiser Petr Kotík who recently celebrated his 75th birthday. It took place on 8th February at NoD experimental space in Prague and the audience had a chance to … Read more…
At their concert on 6th February in Rudolfinum, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra gave world premiere to the sixth symphony by a Brno-based composer Pavel Zemek Novák (*1957). In this composition written to the text of Saint Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of Creation, the orchestra was joined by the women section of the Prague Philharmonic Choir led by … Read more…
After Vienna and London, the acclaimed all-evening opera Biedermann and the Arsonists (2005-2007) by a Czech-Austrian composer Šimon Voseček received its German premiere, too. It was produced in Stadttheater Bremerhaven in northern Germany by director Christian van Götz and conductor Thomas Kalb. Based on Max Frisch’s absurd drama of the same name (1958), the opera tells how … Read more…
On 4th February, Landestheater Coburg, Bavaria, presented a new, radical production of Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen. The Hungarian director duo Alexandra Szemerédy and Magdolna Parditka, who are also responsible for the scenography and costumes, completely abandoned the animal realm and set the story into the world of child prostitution in Eastern Europe. Cages holding underage girls prisoner … Read more…
Premiered on 2nd February, the historically second production of Dvořák’s Rusalka at the Metropolitan Opera in New York meets with very mixed reactions. The critics cannot seem to agree in their opinion both on Mary Zimmerman’s direction and the singers’ performance. Who gets mostly enthusiastic reactions is the American mezzosoprano Jamie Barton in the role of Ježibaba; some, … Read more…
Saarländisches Staatstheater in Saarbrücken, the capital of the state of Saarland, Germany, opened its 2017 opera season with a premiere of Janáček’s Katja Kabanowa. Written in 1921 and based on A. N. Ostrovsky’s play The Storm, the opera got performed here for the first time in history. The premiere took place on January 14. The director Ben Baur set … Read more…
Thirty years since the last performance, Viktor Ullmann’s Emperor of Atlantis returned onto the stage of the Theater an der Wien in Vienna. The new production of this one-act opera, composed in 1943 in the Theresienstadt ghetto, was premiered on 11 January on the Kammeroper scene. The director is Rainer Vierlinger, the theatre’s long-standing collaborator for whom … Read more…
On 17th December, Theater Erfurt (Thuringia, Germany) presented a new production of Bedřich Smetana’s Bartered Bride. It was conducted by the theatre’s second kapellmeister, Greek conductor Zoi Tsokanou. Rather than to experiment, director Markus Weckesser chose to set the story, very traditionally, into a Bohemian village, the atmosphere of which is enhanced by the realist scenography and costumes. The central pair … Read more…
Piano Concerto by Miroslav Srnka got selected as one of the pieces presented at Prague Radio Symphony orchestra’s last pre-Christmas concert which was held on December 19 in Rudolfinum. As the internationally best-known Czech contemporary composer currently, Srnka was a perfect choice for the evening which bore the title “Czech Traces In The World” and whose program included … Read more…
On 13th December, St. Clement’s Church in Prague witnessed the final concert of the Music in Contexts concert cycle. Named 2016 AD, the evening aimed not only to commemorate the approaching Christmas, but also to enrich the Christmas’ repertory with new pieces by contemporary authors. These were performed by the Prague Modern orchestra conducted by Jan Rybář. … Read more…
On December 7 and 8, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra presented a contemporary oratorio I, Job!, by director Dodo Gombár and composer David Rotter. The spoken title role of a severely tested man, as described in the Old Testament’s Book of Job, was played by the popular actor Bolek Polívka. The part of Job’s younger alter ego was sung by … Read more…
Composer Michal Rataj was one of the guests of Polish contemporary electroacoustic music festival Nowa Muzyka w Starym Ratuszu. Three of his works were presented at a concert on 8th December at the Old Town Hall in Gdańsk. The first piece on the program was Winter Shadowy. This composition, which made it to the finals of the … Read more…